


Never Saw This Coming

by WinchesterWarrenSon



Series: Battle Scars Series [7]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Asexual Character, Bisexual Character, Developmentally Disabled Son Goku, Disabled Character, F/M, Gay Character, M/M, Other, Physical Disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-25
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-15 06:25:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3436859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinchesterWarrenSon/pseuds/WinchesterWarrenSon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things become rather interesting at Bulma's party. Set after "Sex Talk," but if you've read "Let Go" and "This Doesn't Feel Right" you haven't missed anything relevant to this one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Saw This Coming

The music boomed, and Yamcha could feel it vibrate in the ground. He could see bits of orange poking out from Piccolo's ears - the man had come prepared - but since Goku and Yamcha had literally just gotten there, it had been a bit of a surprise for Goku. 

Goku lifted his hands to cover his ears, eyebrows furrowing. Yamcha could see his jaw tightening and a reddening in his face that wasn't from blushing. 

City life was steadily revealing many things that Goku couldn't handle well when exposed to it or exposed for too long, and it always seemed to take Goku by surprise - and make him very frustrated - when they discovered yet another something Goku had trouble with when he couldn't just - for lack of a better term - run away from it. 

Music volume at a friend's house was easy to fix, though, so Yamcha patted Goku on the shoulder, then found Bulma easily enough and mimed for her to turn the volume down. Bulma did as asked, much to Trunks's disappointment, then they were actually able to hear her greeting. 

"There you are! Glad you could make it!" 

She leaned in to hug Yamcha, then Goku, then greeted Oolong and Puar once the two animals caught up. 

Goku let go of his ears once the music had been turned down and hugged her tightly, the hug lasting longer than the one between Bulma and Yamcha, though not by much. 

After that, Goku was pretty much as happy as could be, surrounded by friends and getting to see his children again. 

For the most part, Yamcha stayed in the background, catching up with Krillin, Chaotzu, and Tenshenhan. It had been a real long while since he had seen either of them, and they were pretty surprised by quite a lot of what Yamcha had to say. 

"Whoa, really!? Chichi and Goku got separated!?" Krillin said, eyes wide. 

"And Goku's living with you now?" Tenshenhan tacked on.

Yamcha focused on drinking his soda instead of focusing on their faces. He wasn't . . . going right out and telling everyone that he and Goku were dating/going steady/whatever now. That really was just something that Chichi and her sons knew about. (Bulma probably had guessed, but he wasn't sure.) 

"Yeah, he had been kipping on a fuuton while she had been mad, and then they decided things weren't working out, so he's now helping me, Puar, and Oolong with the rent and stuff." 

"Wait, _you_ got Goku to _get a job_?" Chaotzu's jaw dropped. Yamcha laughed nervously. 

Yep, those were the faces of people who were wondering if there was something more going on. But . . . it was one thing to _be_ with Goku and letting Puar and Oolong know and even one thing for Chichi to actually be pretty cool with her husband being with a man now, but it was an entirely different thing to just randomly announce to all your friends "I maybe might've ruined a marriage and Gohan isn't actually talking to me or Goku anymore since they separated and it might be my fault~!" at the annual get-together. 

Like, rationally he knew he wasn't at fault, but . . . Gohan really was not talking to them. Or acknowledging that they were even there more than he had to. And anxiety was a bitch.

"Well, that explains Piccolo over there." Tenshenhan commented. Krillin, Yamcha, and Chaotzu leaned over and turned around in their seats to get a better look at what Tenshenhan was talking about. 

Yamcha's eyebrows flew up as he saw Piccolo getting pulled onto the dance floor by Chichi and the two awkwardly (but adorably) dancing with one another. He smiled a bit, glad that at least Chichi was doing well. 

And Goten seemed to not mind not having his dad around nearly as often. He just ran around and played with his father while he could and had Trunks for company. 

Gohan was really the only one who was taking it not-so-well.... But he could see him with his girlfriend - Videl was her name, right? - and he at least was having fun with her while being here. 

"Hey!" Goku piped up, appearing beside him and slipping into a seat on a side of Yamcha that wasn't already occupied. "What's up, guys?" 

"Hey, Goku," the others greeted in unison. Goku didn't seem to pick up that they were looking at him rather curiously, and Yamcha pointedly took a big, long sip from his drink. 

"We were just catching up on what we've missed from each other's lives," Krillin explained. "So you and Chichi really aren't - ?" 

"Nah. Chichi said something about something called divorce papers being ready eventually and that I'll have to sign them when they are." 

"Oh wow.... I'm sorry, Goku." 

"Don't be, she's having a lot more fun now," Goku said, jerking his head in Chichi's direction. "I didn't really understand the details, but she's gotten a job too and something about taking classes to learn new skills or something like that." 

"And you?" Krillin continued to prod. 

Goku grinned brightly. 

"I'm with Yamcha!" 

Goku leaned in for a snuggle, and Yamcha fought the jolt of anxiety that came with the sudden motion happening in front of their old friends. But he squashed it down and let Goku snuggle on him, Goku's big strong arm wrapping around Yamcha's waist and the warmth of his body pressing against him and the weight of Goku's head as his cheek rubbed into his shoulder. He managed to smile a little, and he forgot to breathe as he waited for the reaction to it from the other three. 

Tenshenhan, Chaotzu, and Krillin stared with wide eyes for a few moments. 

"Oh!" Krillin started. 

"So you're -" Chaotzu added. 

" _With_ Yamcha," Tenshenhan finished. 

"Okay," Krillin tacked on. "I didn't - " 

"- know you were -" 

"Bisexual...." Tenshenhan ended up blushing furiously as he said the word. 

Goku blinked repeatedly, then lifted his head up some. "What's bisexual?" 

"I wouldn't say bisexual necessarily...." Yamcha said, almost talking over Goku. "I mean - maybe?" He looked over at Goku as though Goku had an answer. 

Goku looked back at Yamcha. "What's bisexual?" he repeated. 

"It means you want to bang two different genders," Vegeta's voice interjected, making Yamcha, Krillin, Tenshenhan, and Chaotzu jump in their seats. Goku turned his head around to look at Vegeta. 

"Hey Vegeta!" 

Vegeta made himself room at the cluster of seats. 

"It's none of our business if you do or not, but that's what it is," Vegeta added. 

"What do you mean by bang?" 

"He means have sex with, Goku," Yamcha explained, his face matching Tenshenhan's blush. 

"Oh! I don't wanna have sex with anybody. What'd you call that?" 

"Asexual," Vegeta supplied without any preamble, crossing his legs. 

Goku grinned brightly, then announced, "I'm asexual! But I love everybody! And I like living with Yamcha most." He then went right back to snuggling on Yamcha, and Yamcha's blush darkened, but a smile joined it. 

It was a rather awkward silence between the group after that, though Goku seemed too busy to notice it. Yamcha wondered exactly what it felt like to Goku, clinging to him like that and rubbing his cheek over the same spot on Yamcha's shoulder over and over.... Yamcha had picked up on the fact that Goku tended to find the way certain things felt to be either very comforting or very aversive. Heavier, weighted clothes made Goku feel much more at ease, and the difference Goku had felt between a regular blanket and a random weighted blanket they had somehow come into possession of after garage sale hunting had been rather noticeable, even to Yamcha. But certain fabrics also seemed to really bother Goku, and the day Goku had spent all day wearing a rather silky shirt Yamcha had given him to borrow had been very confusing for both of them and a little scary on Yamcha's end. (No one liked it when they couldn't figure out why the Saiyan was uncomfortable and angry and yelling at them.) But the moment the shirt was off, everything was back to normal. And Goku seemed to get even happier when he had fabrics and clothes and sensations happen that he really liked. 

He liked that Goku apparently liked snuggling him so much. It made him feel useful and wanted. 

"Um, congratulations!" Tenshenhan spoke up after a while. Yamcha looked up from looking at Goku, and Goku paused his rubbing of his cheek on Yamcha's shoulder to look at Tenshenhan. "I mean, I'm - I'm glad things are working out. With that. I - I'm sorry, I know we're being rude about it, it was just a surprise and - " 

"Yeah, we're really happy for you!" Chaotzu joined in. "If you're happy and Chichi's happy, then it's great and we're glad it worked out!" 

"Oh yeah, yeah, definitely," Krillin added. "And good for you on figuring out all that - that, um, sexuality stuff. I've heard that can be pretty hard if it's not the, y'know - " 

"Straight forward one?" Yamcha said, and that made everyone but Vegeta and Goku laugh. (Get it? Straight? Straight forward? Eh? Eh?) Vegeta smirked and shook his head, and Goku was just clueless. 

"Well, I guess it depends on if it's hard," Chaotzu said. "I always knew I liked boys, though I didn't go around telling anybody until I met Ten." 

"And I lied to myself about liking men for . . . how long was it?" Tenshenhan admitted. 

"Depends, how long did we know each other before our first Tenkaichi Budokai?" Chaotzu asked.

"Um...." Tenshenhan and Chaotzu worked on the math for a bit. 

"Wait," Krillin interjected. "So you're both - ?" 

"Gay? Yep," Chaotzu said. 

"And - ?" 

"Together, yeah," Tenshenhan said, blushing a little bit again. 

"For how long?" 

". . . How long have we known you?" 

"Holy crap, you two! And you're just telling us now?" Krillin responded. 

"Well, it wasn't like we knew what you'd think or anything," Chaotzu said, and Yamcha felt a lot of anxiety leave him. At least things were going well it seemed. 

"So . . . am I the only straight one at this table or - ?" Krillin asked. 

Before anyone else could respond, Vegeta answered with a rather final sounding, "Yes." 

Everyone but Goku stared at Vegeta, surprised. Goku just sat up proper and grinned. 

Without prompting, Vegeta smirked, "Batting for one team is boring." 

" _You're_ bi?" Yamcha couldn't help but ask in a slightly more high-pitched tone than necessary. 

"It seems to be the best human word for it," Vegeta said. "Though in space, this whole male-female binary thing doesn't really exist." 

"Huh?" Krillin, Goku, Tenshenhan, Chaotzu, and Yamcha all asked. Vegeta rolled his eyes. 

"Have you ever wondered why there aren't any quote-on-quote women Namekians? Even though all of them are capable of child-bearing?" 

The five men paused to think about it for a while, then made a resounding "Ohhhhh." 

Goku then laughed. "So you'd probably bang anything if you liked it, right?" 

"Pretty much," Vegeta admitted. Goku grinned, happy to have gotten that one right. 

"You must really like Bulma then~!" 

"Just because I'm having this conversation doesn't mean I won't punch you into the farthest wall, Kakarott." 

That just made Goku giggle. 

Around that time, 18 came over and tapped Krillin on the shoulder, then directed him to the dance floor. Krillin gave the men a quick "see you later" and joined his wife on the dance floor. Piccolo meanwhile had gotten the hang of dancing with Chichi, and the two of them were trying out a couple more daring moves. Trunks and Goten were dancing in whatever way they felt like, and Gohan and Videl were too busy chatting and making each other laugh to really think about joining the groups on the dance floor. 

Bulma soon drug Vegeta off to do the same, and Chaotzu turned to Tenshenhan. 

"If we're gonna be open about it now, can we . . . ?" 

Tenshenhan smiled at Chaotzu. "Of course we can." 

"Yay!" 

Chaotzu then hovered into the air and grabbed Tenshenhan's hand, playfully pulling him onto the dance floor as well. 

Yamcha and Goku stayed seated, Goku choosing to lean on Yamcha's shoulder again. It was quiet between them aside from the music and the sounds of the others talking to each other and laughing. 

"You sure you don't want to join?" Yamcha asked. 

"Nah. I'll have plenty of exercise when Vegeta gets bored and wants to train," Goku responded. 

"Mm." 

Another pause. 

"Do you want to?" Goku asked. 

"Eh. It's not so much if I want to as it is...." 

". . . if the leg is behaving." 

"Yeah." 

". . . Do you want me to get your stick from the car?" 

"No," Yamcha replied too quickly, with too much bite in his tone.

Another pause. 

"I'm sorry...." 

"It's not you. Never think it's you, okay?" He knew that was a ridiculous thing to ask. 

". . . Does it hurt a lot?" 

"Not right now, but I'd rather . . . not risk it in front of everyone." 

"Okay." 

The volume of the music got turned up by someone, and Goku's face scrunched up as it did so. He moved so that he could lay his head down in Yamcha's lap and covered his ears while burying his face into Yamcha's shirt. Yamcha brought a hand down and ran his fingers through Goku's hair. After a while, though, Yamcha could tell that Goku was having a harder and harder time dealing with the noise. He shifted, trying to alert Goku that he was getting up. He then led Goku to the outside, to the GR. 

"I'll let the others know where you are, just chill out in there for a while, okay?" Yamcha said. Goku nodded, then almost stumbled into the GR. 

It wasn't any kind of physical limitation making Goku stumble. Yamcha could tell by looking at his eyes that the loud, incessant noise had been making him feel disoriented. 

Goku put the GR onto whatever gravity level he felt most comfortable with, and Yamcha headed for inside again. 

It was nice watching everyone else have fun. His eyebrows rose a little when he saw Oolong and Puar dancing with each other, but it made him smile nonetheless. 

Eventually the dancing was finished - across the board - and the music was finally turned back to low. Though Goku was still in the gravity chamber and thus couldn't feel the relief of the fact, despite having been the most affected by it. 

Tenshenhan, Chaotzu, Krillin, Oolong, Puar, and Bulma walked over, somewhat followed by Vegeta, though they stopped just short of coming right up to Yamcha. 

"Where'd Goku go?" Krillin asked. 

"Gravity Room," Yamcha answered simply. 

"Naturally," came the grumbled sound of Gohan from across the room, but Yamcha decided that wasn't his business. Was a can of worms he wanted nothing to do with if he could help it. 

Vegeta went ahead and started walking in the direction of the GR, while Bulma realized her watch was blinking and pressed a button. 

"That explains why my watch was going off," Bulma remarked. 

"Your watch?" Yamcha asked. 

"It doubles as an alert for when the GR is turned on and being used. Even lets me have video feed of what's going on in there...." 

Yamcha frowned as he saw Bulma's eyebrows knit together as she watched the screen. 

"Has Goku been feeling okay?" she asked, concern in her voice. That brought the attention of the others to her, though Vegeta had already left the room and couldn't hear her. Now that the music wasn't so loud, Bulma's voice carried and Chichi, Piccolo, 18, Gohan, Videl, and the children could hear her too. 

Yamcha debated on how to answer that question. "Why do you ask?" he chose to say instead. 

"He's not training, he's just sitting there.... But the gravity's on pretty high, even for him and Vegeta." 

"But he can handle it, right?" 

"Oh yeah, of course he can, it's not _that_ high - " 

"Then don't worry about it. He's fine." 

Bulma didn't look convinced, and the others were starting to look worried, but as long as no one tried to go bother him or push the subject, Yamcha wasn't going to bother cluing them in or clarifying things. 

He didn't feel like arguing with people that Goku was developmentally disabled, especially when Goku didn't know what that meant or that it was applicable to him and when he didn't have official documentation of it. 

In the GR, Vegeta raised an eyebrow at Goku. 

"What are you doing?" he asked. 

Goku was curled up into a little ball, just sitting there near the gravity controls, his face in his arms. 

"It's too loud in there," floated Goku's voice from where it was mumbled into his arms. 

Vegeta's eyebrow rose further up his forehead, but he didn't say anything about it. 

"If you're fit for fighting, let's go," was all the Prince of All Saiyans said on the matter. 

Goku unfolded his arms and picked himself up into a standing position, then moved into a fighting stance. 

Eventually the two Saiyans returned to inside the building, ravenously hungry, and between the two of them, the party had no food left. By that point, it was getting awfully late, and the different groups parted ways, saying goodbye to each other as they went. 

At home, Yamcha and Goku curled up under the fuuton covers while Puar for once slept on top of Oolong's sheets.


End file.
